Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 66,193 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 66,193 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,403,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $531.21 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $553.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $396.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.03. The company has a market capitalization of $183.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Western Digital News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total value of $115,480.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at $63,221,431.91. This trade represents a 0.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 54,405 shares of company stock valued at $18,575,428 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.